


I'll Hold You

by pawnofkings



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:27:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26215645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pawnofkings/pseuds/pawnofkings
Summary: When Neil comes back from practice with Kevin, he's pissed off. Matt knows how to help him calm down.
Relationships: Matt Boyd/Neil Josten
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62





	I'll Hold You

**Author's Note:**

> My first Boydsten/Brosten fic! Let me know what you think!

Neil was already grumbling in that angry way of his when he entered the dorm. Matt was lounging on the couch, one arm stretched above his head, and he looked on in amusement as Neil chucked off his jacket, shoes, and scarf before walking into the kitchen, still muttering all the while. Matt couldn't understand all of what he was saying, but he gathered enough from the few words he did catch and the general tone of Neil's voice. 

Besides, Neil barely complained about anything else. 

Kevin Day was a cruel instructor, harsh with his words and even harsher with his glare and general vibe of pure judgment. Neil was the only one Matt knew who was strong enough to put up with it for any length of time and that only through sheer determination to become better at Exy. 

And sure, it did pay off. Neil had improved faster than anyone Matt had ever seen before. 

But it did result in all of this grumbling. And Neil having to make himself a cup of tea not only every day at 4:00 p.m. as well as at breakfast, but whenever Kevin decided to delight them with his presence. 

Kevin had been ceaselessly devoted to the sport even before the deal that placed him under the protection of the main branch of the Moriyamas. Ever since gaining the guarantee that he was to live a full life and play a full career of Exy, something that he supposedly hadn't thought of as a certainty before, he was even more devoted to it. Now that he knew that he had a chance to become not only the best in Class I Exy, but the best in  _ all  _ of Exy, he was thinking of nothing else - besides, occasionally, Thea. Matt thought she was probably all right with that mindset; she seemed equally dedicated, herself. Mark of the Raven.

And Neil. 

“How was practice?” Matt asked, not even wondering. He could gather that clearly enough from Neil’s general demeanor. The loud exaggerated groan coming from the kitchen made him chuckle. 

Or more so, laugh his ass off. And when Neil returned from the kitchen, his eyes were already focused on Matt as if mad that Matt was enjoying his suffering. 

“I didn't miss a single cone”, Neil said. “But Kevin found something else to rant about. How the angle was wrong, or the footwork was wrong. How can the footwork be wrong? We weren't even moving our feet! We're standing, knocking down cones, how are my feet supposed to be like I just -”

“There's an ongoing bet about when you will finally end up killing Kevin. Or not kill him, but perhaps maim him”, he amended when Neil raised a skeptical eyebrow. 

Neil let out a sigh as he sat down by Matt's feet, leaning back into the cushions. "Why does he have to be so fucking good? I don't want to listen to him, but it's the only way to succeed and I'm about to kill either him or myself."

Matt laughed joyously, receiving another glare. 

“Come here", he offered, holding out his arms. Neil set the cup of tea down on the coffee table and moved to straddle Matt's thighs, quickly falling forward.

They lied there, chest to chest, and Neil looked up at Matt's face with icy blue eyes that were startling in their clarity. 

Matt raised a hand and placed it on Neil's back, moving it deftly along his spine, careful not to press directly onto the vertebrae. He worked his fingertips into knots at various points on Neil’s back and Neil sighed. He pressed his face to Matt’s neck, a lot like a cat, and Matt delighted in the similarity.

"So much tension", Matt murmured, pressing into a particularly sensitive spot. Neil groaned. "How long did he have you going for?"

"Three hours”, Neil grumbled. “Three hours of cones.”

“I wouldn't have survived that”, Matt joked, but to what extent was it a joke? He imagined that if Kevin had him going for three hours straight, he would’ve been dead by the time practice finished, or perhaps even before then. And then Kevin would have sighed judgmentally down at his corpse, asking if he wasn't passionate enough about exy to keep going. If you don't want to be the best backliner in the country, then what are you even doing there, right? 

But Matt didn't care about that. He loved Exy, he really did, but he didn't care about being the very best. He only cared to complement his team well and to do the best possible for  _ him _ . People like Kevin and Neil being the best  _ of all _ was certainly possible. The potential shone around them like an aura.

And Matt could forgive Kevin for being so obsessed. Really, it’s all he’d been allowed to worry about, all his life, and now his - and Neil’s- survival was contingent on it. 

He began rubbing circles into Neil’s back. He had over a foot on the man, and as a backliner was much more sturdy than Neil’s runner’s form, so the younger man fit very nicely like this.

“So tired”, Neil muttered into his neck. Matt felt Neil's lips moving against his skin and tried not to shiver. 

“Feel free to take a nap”, Matt offered. “I've been told I make a great mattress.” 

Neil giggled. 

"I told you that."


End file.
